Corre Energy, a renewable energy storage developer, made it clear that it would need to explore diversified finance sources. However, it remained confident that its declining share price will rebound over time. Headquartered in the Netherlands and run by an Irish team, the company recently raised €2.76 million through share sales which is intended to help sustain its operations while it negotiates with potential strategic investors. The business ended last year with a spare cash amount of just €1.08 million.
Despite a drop of over 85% in the value of the company’s shares on the Dublin stock exchange over the previous year, partly attributed to the downturn in the green energy sector due to falling energy prices and increased interest rates, Corre Energy remains optimistic. Matthew Chrysler-Savage, the company’s chief financial officer, in revealing the firm’s 2023 annual report last Friday, admitted disappointment in the shares’ performance for the year, but noted that this followed an overall sector trend.
He added that with better market understanding of the sector and financial maturity of their renewable projects, he views this downturn as a short-term problem. However, Corre Energy acknowledges that handling multiple projects in different jurisdictions inherently carries a moderate to high risk of not meeting agreed budgets and deadlines.
For the past year, The CEO of Corre Energy, Keith McGrane received a total compensation package of €311,000, an increase from the previous year’s €307,000. Meanwhile, Darren Patrick Green, the largest stakeholder and a former director of the group who relinquished his position earlier this year, earned €328,000, a decrease from €332,000 the year prior.
The annual report highlighted the company’s ongoing project development and its pre-revenue state, requiring substantial additional finance for future operations. Though the company successfully raised necessary funds in 2023, a method to diversify revenue sources is required to guarantee adequate capital to sustain the business for the next 12 months.
The company has revealed that the equity investment made in the past few weeks is expected to provide enough of a “bridge” to meet the working capital demands as it navigates the next step of its strategic investment journey, under the guidance of financial advisors, Rothschild & Co. The firm added that despite the current uncertainty about the exact size or layout of the process, the company aims to disclose updates soon, in order to clarify and reassure about the state of funding.